Edible Art: How to Make Obliteration Cheesecake

A fun cheesecake recipe inspired by the artwork of Yayoi Kusama.

I’ve been craving cheesecake a lot lately, especially cheesecake flavored fro-yo topped with cheesecake bits. So I was excited to finally have time to whip together this Yayoi Kusama inspired cheesecake over the weekend. Did you know that National Cheesecake Day was this week too?! Honestly I didn’t, so let’s mark our calendars for July 30 next year and do this again. Cool, it’s a date.

The colorful polka-dots on this cheesecake were inspired by artist Yayoi Kusama’s collaborative art installation Obliteration Room. When I took my baby to the Infinity Mirrors exhibit at DC’s Hirshhorn Museum, upon exiting all guests were invited to take part in transforming a stark white living space into an “obliterated” explosion of color created by circle stickers. By the end of the exhibit’s run, the room was completely transformed thanks to all who walked through it.

Her first interactive exhibit!

Just like the “Obliteration Room”, you’ll start with a base of plain white cheesecake, and transform it how you’d like with colorful cheesecake batter circles. I used a 10 inch springform pan to bake it, and the thickness came out to less than an inch. That’s a pretty thin cheesecake, but I love that ratio of graham cracker crust to filling. And it’s perfect for chopping up into little bits and topping onto cheesecake fro-yo!

Obliteration Cheesecake!

Ok, let’s get to making this colorful ‘sert.

First, you’ll need a pie plate, springform pan, or cake pan. Next, in a small mixing bowl, blend together the crust ingredients: 1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1/4 cup of melted butter. Dump that into your baking dish of choice and use your fingers to evenly spread it around the pan forming a nice crust. Put it in the freezer for 10-15 while you work on the filling.

Go ahead and preheat the oven to 325 F, and then get started on the creamy cheesecake filling.

A stand mixer works great here, but a hand mixer will do just as well. In a mixing bowl, whip 16 oz of room temperature cream cheese for a couple minutes. Then slowly add in 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 eggs, 2/3 cup of sour cream, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and mix for a few minutes until completely combined.

Pour about 3/4 of the batter into the pan, and then split the remaining batter among 3 or 4 small bowls for adding color.

I used Betty Crocker Food Gel to add color to the remaining batter, specifically Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. Yayoi Kusama’s “Obliteration Room” color palette also included orange and hot pink if you want to hardcore stick with the inspiration behind this cake’s design.

For easy polka dot placement, I used piping bags and a frosting tip. If you don’t have those cake decorating tools, you could use a ziplock bag. After putting the batter into the ziplock, cut a teeny tiny hole into one corner and use that to create circles on the cake.

I added the dots one color at a time, and tried to be frugal with the piping bags by using only one, and cleaning it out between colors.

Now bake that thang for one hour. When the buzzer dings, turn the oven off, and leave the cheesecake in there for another hour. After that, take it out, let it cool completely, and put it in the fridge for another 8-24 hours.

Fast forward to tomorrow, now you can eat that art!

If you liked this recipe, check out my other Yayoi Kusama inspired recipes:

In a medium bowl, mix together all the crust ingredients until combined, dump into a springform pan or pie plate and use your fingers to press the crust into shape.

Place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.

2

Preheat the oven to 325.

3

In a stand mixer, whisk the cream cheese for a couple minutes then slowly add in the sugar, and one egg at a time until blended. Then add in the sour cream and vanilla and blend until smooth.

4

Pour about 3/4 of the batter onto the crust, reserving the rest of the batter into 3 or 4 small bowls to mix in colors.

5

In the small bowls, add your desired food colors to each. To create the polka dots, spoon the batter into piping bags with a frosting tip adhered, or a ziplock bag with a tiny hole cut at the tip to create the dots.

6

Dot the colorful cheesecake batter onto the cake using the piping bags.

7

Bake for 1 hour, then turn the oven off and let it rest in the oven for 1 more hour.

Refrigerate for 8-24 hours.

Ingredients

Crust:

1 ¼cupsGraham cracker crumbs

2tbspsugar

¼cupmelted butter

Filling:

16ozcream cheese (room temperature)

2eggs

½cupsugar

⅔cupsour cream

1tspvanilla extract

4food coloring gels

Directions

1

In a medium bowl, mix together all the crust ingredients until combined, dump into a springform pan or pie plate and use your fingers to press the crust into shape.

Place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.

2

Preheat the oven to 325.

3

In a stand mixer, whisk the cream cheese for a couple minutes then slowly add in the sugar, and one egg at a time until blended. Then add in the sour cream and vanilla and blend until smooth.

4

Pour about 3/4 of the batter onto the crust, reserving the rest of the batter into 3 or 4 small bowls to mix in colors.

5

In the small bowls, add your desired food colors to each. To create the polka dots, spoon the batter into piping bags with a frosting tip adhered, or a ziplock bag with a tiny hole cut at the tip to create the dots.

6

Dot the colorful cheesecake batter onto the cake using the piping bags.

7

Bake for 1 hour, then turn the oven off and let it rest in the oven for 1 more hour.

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About Me

Dawn Reed

"Make it work with what you got!"

Hello, I'm Dawn- a full time working artist, music nerd, beer loving wife, and tattooed mother to a toddler and two cats. I enjoy creating everyday to liven up our small living space on an extremely low budget.Read more...